LML auctioned for ₹243 crore, Rimjhim Steels the new owner

KANPUR: Once a leading manufacturer of two-wheelers in India, the Lohia Machines Limited or LML, was auctioned for Rs 243 crore. Managing director of Rimjhim Steels Pvt Ltd Yogesh Agarwal, who offered the highest bid of Rs 243 crore in the February 2 auction, said the company would soon be reorganised.

LML began production of scooters in 1972 and became one of the top 10 companies by 1983. Its scooter Vespa reduced the market autonomy of Bajaj scooters.

Other bidders who participated in the auction included MD, Neel Industries, Subodh Agarwal (Rs 241 crore), MD, Panem Steels, Praveen Nemani (Rs 180 crore), MD, Lohia Starlinger, Rajiv Lohia (Rs 151 crore) and MD, Dolphin Developers, Vishwanath Gupta (Rs 142 crore).

The company has 70 acres of land worth Rs 400 crore in Dadanagar industrial area in Kanpur, a 2,500 square feet office at Nariman Point, Mumbai. It is also equipped with infrastructure and machinery and has about a hundred employees.

The auction was carried out on the completion of bankruptcy and insolvency proceedings at the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT), Allahabad.

The issue of LML’s bankruptcy and insolvency was brought before the NCLT in May 2017. The tribunal directed the

company to settle the issue by January 24, 2018. The company owed Rs 350 crore to government financial institutions and employees.

Since the company failed to give a plan for recovering from bankruptcy and insolvency, the NCLT started the procedure for auction last month.

After the second and final phase of auction proceedings on February 2, the company was surrendered to highest bidder Yogesh Agarwal.